Quality of life of patients with end-stage renal disease.

Background: Renal failure is a chronic disease that can have serious effects on patients’ quality of life (QoL). Objective: Gender, age, education and marital status were investigated in end-stage renal disease patients. Specifically, the relationship of QoL and mental health to sociodemographic variables was examined. Methodology: 144 patients in-centre haemodialysis (HD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) were administered the World Health Organization QoL instrument (WHOQOLBREF), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), the depression CES-D scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale (MHLC). Results: Female patients reported lower scores in the psychological and environmental QoL domains and higher scores in the Trait Anxiety measure. Elder patients reported higher scores in the GHQ-28 sub-scale of social dysfunction and in the CES-D depression scale, while less educated patients presented higher scores in the GHQ-28 sub-scales of anxiety/insomnia and severe depression. Divorced/widowed patients presented lower scores in the physical, social and environmental QoL domains and higher scores in the severe depression sub-scale. Regarding health locus of control, females and less educated patients reported higher scores in the attitudinal dimension of chance, while younger patients in the dimension of internal. Conclusions: Findings provide evidence that sociodemographic variables, like being female, older, less educated and divorced/widowed, relate to a more compromised QoL.